Socio-Cultural Dimensions of Climate Governance in Sri Lanka
Synopsis
I investigate how the climate crisis, urban development, and global power relations interact to produce inequalities in Colombo and Jaffna (Sri Lanka), using postcolonial, poststructuralist, and queerfeminist perspectives to critically analyse climate‑governance policies.
In my project I ask
- What qualities climate governance in Sri Lanka exhibits; which rationales it follows and why.
- And how this situated form of climate governance is related to more global trends in climate governance.
Sri Lanka (r) Climate Crisis
Sri Lanka, home to ca. 22 million people, was ranked the second most vulnerable country in the Global Climate Risk Index 2019 and is continuously placed among the ten most threatened countries world-wide for climate change impacts (Udaya R., 2016; Eckstein, Hutfils and Winges, 2019; Franche and United Nations Resident Coordinator (RCS), 2023). Decreased precipitation and an increase in the number of annual dry days, a higher mean temperature, rising sea levels, coastal erosion, (flash) floodings, and landslides due to extreme weather events threaten life, livelihoods, and infrastructures of the island (Abhayaratne, 2017; World Bank Group and Asian Development Bank, 2021).
While the risk of anthropogenic climate change impacts is geographically higher in certain regions of the globe, a population's capabilities to adapt to climate impacts primarily depends on their economic strength which factors into most climate change risk assessments. Thus, countries like Sri Lanka rank high on Climate Change Risk Indices also because they often have small financial means at their disposal to invest in necessary climate adaptation projects (Eckstein, Hutfils and Winges, 2019). Adaptation and mitigation to climate change impacts are closely related to economic development goals.
«The most demanding challenge [to tackle adaptation and mitigation] for developing countries today is to develop their economies[...]Sri Lanka has to address these challenges considering the need for increasing investment for [in] environment friendly infrastructure development[...]industrial development together with the climate change challenges» (Ministry of Environment Sri Lanka, 2012).
Cyclone Ditwah which devastated parts of Sri Lanka end of November 2025 resulted in the death of over 700 people. The storm laid waste to roads and infrastructures and destroyed the homes and sometimes the livelihoods of several hundreds of thousands. Climate change induced phenomena like cyclones are expected to increase due to higher mean ocean temperatures. The lack of early warning systems – a standard protection measure e.g., in Indonesia – raises questions as to the general preparedness for climate change in Sri Lanka and countries in comparable economic situations and geographic locations. Since the 2022 economic crisis in Sri Lanka, the country is contractually bound to follow a strict International Monetary Fund (IMF) programme to pay off the debts to the global financial institution. In the aftermath of cyclone Ditwah criticism was raised that the IMF programme goals which focus on economic growth do not align with heavy but necessary investment into climate resilient infrastructures.
